We’re going through every NRL club and examining how the shutdown of the competition due to the coronavirus crisis will affect them.

See also: Brisbane Broncos, Canberra Raiders, Canterbury Bulldogs, Cronulla Sharks, Manly Sea Eagles

Today we look at what the lockdown means for the Manly Sea Eagles...

Positives

Although this doesn't really concern the playing group, but moreso for the football department. The Sea Eagles have finally paid off their penalty in which the NRL handed to them for the 2018-19 seasons as well backdating it to five years after their salary cap breaches which occurred in 2018. It means they can now use that money to target A-grade talent.

Negatives

The biggest negative facing the Manly Sea Eagles in this hiatus is that they pride themselves on fitness, as was the case in the first year that Des Hasler took charge. In the last two years, the Sea Eagles finished 15th in 2018 and then the first season that Hasler took charge he rocketed them to the sixth spot. There is no doubt the players would be putting in the work during the break but match fitness is their biggest negative.

Financial position

Not great, as owner Scott Penn has been putting money into the club just to keep them afloat. However, he is battling a heavy tax bill.

Coach

The good news is that Des Hasler is staying with the Sea Eagles for at least another two years before his contract runs out. He did some hard work in his first season with the Sea Eagles and implemented a fitness philosophy. It paid dividends as they played finals football last season after finishing near the bottom of the table the year prior. With that in mind, the players have belief and can now take them to a whole another level.

Players

They don't have a lot of fresh faces coming into season 2020, which in this case can be a good thing. The other good piece of information there is only a few players coming out of contract, which are Moses Suli, Corey Waddell and Brendan Elliot. Perhaps the one player they do want to hold onto is New Zealander Danny Levi, who joined the Sea Eagles at the start of the year after falling out of favour at Newcastle.

How they would have fared in 2020

They would have had their eyes set on finals football after what happened last season, and potentially even higher. A premiership run isn't out of question.

Where to from here

It was a tough start for the Sea Eagles in playing two of the best teams in the Melbourne Storm and the Sydney Roosters. They lost their opening match to the Storm by 14 points, but come out with a one-point win against the premiers the following week.

There is positives to take from both games and this Manly squad is capable to do some damage when the season restarts.